title: Bite force and pattern measurements for dental pain assessment in the rat.
abstract: We present simple method to assess dental pain in the awake rat. Using a sensitive strain gauge we examined changes in bite strength and bite pattern in rats following dental injury. Rats with dental injury displayed a significant reduction in mean peak bite strength and an altered bite cluster pattern. Both changes in the dental injury rats were reversed by an analgesic dose of morphine, and this could be reversed with naloxone. These changes were not observed in naive control animals. This simple method significantly improves our ability to evaluate dental pain syndromes.
authors.affiliation: Division of Orofacial Pain, Suzan and Robert Carmel Endowed Chair in Algesiology, Department of Diagnostic Sciences, UMDNJ, New Jersey Dental School, 110 Bergen Street, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.
authors.forename: Junad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Benoliel
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Herzberg
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Mannes
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Caudle
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eliav
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000494:pharmacology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001732:Bite Force; D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003799:Dental Stress Analysis; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000494:pharmacology; D009270:Naloxone / Q000494:pharmacology; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D009270:Naloxone; D009020:Morphine